Quadri Aruna started the New Year with an improvement in his world rating as the African champion gained points in his quarterfinal finish at the WTT Finals which earned him a rise to 14th place in the latest ITTF Ranking.
The Nigerian caused one of the big upsets at the WTT Finals Doha 2023 after coming from 2-0 down to beat world number five Hugo Calderano of Brazil 3-2 to book his place in the quarterfinal of the year-ending tournament held in Qatar.
Aruna who was ranked 16th before the WTT Finals gained 265 points from his quarterfinal finish in Doha to improve his world rating points to 1425 ahead of the 15th placed Darko Jorgic of Slovenia who has 1340 points.
Also, WTT has listed Aruna’s 2023 triumph over former world number five Tomokazu Harimoto among the five biggest upsets of the outgone year after the Nigerian stunned the Japanese 3-0 to reach the quarter final stage of the Singapore Smash in 2023.
“I am working hard this year so that I can achieve more successes and continue to shoot up my ranking to be able to secure my qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Aruna said.
Meanwhile, Aruna has been listed alongside Egypt’s Omar Assar among the top 20 players that will start their campaign from the main draw of the 2024 WTT Star Contender Doha which started on Monday January 8 with the preliminary round.
